The Summer of Soul. Photograph: Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Mass Distraction Media.
Sheffield Doc/Fest announced May 17 its full programme for the 2021 event, which takes place 4-13 June in cinemas both in Sheffield and across the UK cinema, and online. The line-up includes 55 world premieres, 22 International premieres, 15 European premieres and 59 UK premieres from 57 countries, with 63 languages represented.
The Sheffield fest comprises 78 features and 88 shorts in the film programme and 35 artists and collectives represented in the Arts Programme.
The Summer of Soul by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will open the festival while The Story of Looking by Mark Cousins (a Sheffield DocFest MeetMarket project from 2019) will be the closing film.
Cíntia Gil, Festival Director comments: “We are very proud to present a programme that brings together a multitude of forms, landscapes and visions, with a myriad of incredible talent to whom we deeply thank for their trust. We are excited about holding this festival in a way that welcomes everyone – online and in Sheffield, and also across the UK. The importance and urgency of cinema has only grown since we last saw a film on the big screen.”
International Competition includes 11 features in total, produced in countries from across the globe. Four are first time features; Charm Circle by Nira Burstein (USA, World Premiere), Rancho by Pedro Speroni (Argentina, World Premiere), Factory to the Workers by Srđan Kovačević (Croatia, World Premiere) and Summer by Vadim Kostrov (Russia, World Premiere).
Also competing are Equatorial Constellations by Silas Tiny (São Tomé and Príncipe/Portugal, World Premiere), From the 84 Days by Philipp Hartmann (Germany/Bolivia, World Premiere) and This Stained Dawn by Anam Abbas (Pakistan, World Premiere), Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land! by Isael Maxakali, Sueli Maxakali, Carolina Canguçu and Roberto Romero (Brazil, International Premiere), White on White by Viera Čákanyová (Czech Republic/Slovakia, International Premiere), Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions by Komori Haruka and Seo Natsumi (Japan, International Premiere) and My Dear Spies by Vladimir Léon (France, UK Premiere).
The UK Competition comprises “a selection of independent films that bring unique perspectives”. Filmmakers include; Allan Melia, Ben Reed, Charlotte Ginsborg, Christine Saab, Daisy Ifama, Daniel Draper, Eriberto Gualinga, Frank Martin, Isla Badenoch, Makeda Matheson, Maythem Ridha, Nicola Mai, Pamela Breda, Rhea Storr, Rob Curry and Tim Plester.
Across the Films and Arts programmes, premieres include works from; Anna Muyalert & Jô Politi, Avi Mograbi, Basir Mahmood, Betsy West & Julie Cohen, Daïchi Saïto, Dan Reed, Julien Faraut, Karrabing Film Collective, Kazuo Hara, Kim O’Bomsawin, Luke Holland, Lynne Sachs, Mania Akbari, Ash Moniz, Paula Gaitán, Philippe Béziat, Rosine Mbakam, Séamus Harahan, Sophie Michael, Zara Zendieh, Steve McQueen, Mona Benyamin, Theo Anthony, Vincent Carelli, Vitaly Mansky, Vivian Ostrovsky, Yael Bartana, Yaël Abecassis, plus retrospective titles from Isaac Julien, Jenn Nkiru, Jon Bang Carlsen, Menelik Shabazz and Stuart Hall.
Filmmakers, artists and talent speaking as part of talks, panels and Q&As will include Al Wong & Emily Chao (Dialogues), Pallavi Paul (The Blind Rabbit), Alison Bechdel (No Straight Lines), Betsy West & Julie Cohen (My Name is Pauli Murray), Campbell X (guest curator), Courtney Stephens (The American Sector), David Olusoga (guest curator), Lydia Lunch (The War Is Never Over), Marc Isaacs (guest curator), Mark Cousins (The Story of Looking) and Steve McQueen (Uprising).
Presented as Special Screenings this year are five World Premieres. These include Steve McQueen and James Rogan’s new series Uprising and Clive Patterson’s Sing, Freetown, with television reporter Sorious Samura and Sierra Leone theatre director Charlie Haffner. Working with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Brian Hill presents Where Did The World Go. Additionally, three films will offer a multitude of perspectives on 9/11 and its consequences; My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan by Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi, Surviving 9/11 (Working Title) by Arthur Cary and 9/11: One Day in America by Daniel Bogado.
The Into the World strand will include, besides pre-announced titles, World Premieres of If God Were a Woman by Angélica Cervera (Columbia), In The Shadow Of 9/11 by Dan Reed (USA) and The World of Mindfulness by Ying Liang (Hong Kong). Borderland by Andreas Voigt (Germany/Poland) and Party Line by Lydia Cornett (USA) are both being presented as International Premieres. Final Account by the late Luke Holland (Germany/UK), will be presented as a UK Premiere.
The Rebellions section presents films by Anaïs Taracena, Carlos Adriano, David Dufresne, Ephraim Asili, Jason Livingston, Jim Finn, Lynne Sachs, Mania Akbari, Paula Gaitán, Thomas Bauer, Vincent Meessen and Yael Bartana among many others. The section also presents the historical document MOVE: Confrontation in Philadelphia, by Karen Pomer and Jane Mancini, shot in 1978 during the terrible police raids that led to the imprisonment of several members of Move, the collective founded by John Africa.
Ghosts & Apparitions is made up of 39 films made between 1945-2021 and from 23 countries, with eight World Premieres and nine International Premieres. It includes films by Jay Rosenblatt, Sanaz Sohrabi, Rita and Vincent Carelli, Theo Anthony, Haig Aivazian, Charlotte Jarvis, Emily Chao, Al Wong, among many others, and a focus on Taiwanese Cinema Memory Revisited: Focus Taiwan, curated by Wood Lin.
Also in Ghosts & Apparitions is a programme presented in partnership with the BFI, Reel Women/Real Lives: Britain’s Female Documentary Makers, in which where the first three digital restorations of films by Kay Mander, Margaret Thomson and Sarah Erulkar will be screened. With Marc Isaacs as guest curator, a programme of Jon Bang Carlsen’s films will kick start a conversation about The Art of Staging Reality.
In addition to the UK Competition, the festival is also presenting a Northern Focus this year. Nine titles make up the section, by Alfie Barker, Catriona Gallagher, Claire Davies, Jim Wraith, Kim Flitcroft, Mark Waters, Sel MacLean, Sema Basharan and Sophie Robinson.
In partnership with Chile Doc, a selection of contemporary Chilean films will be presented online, with works by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff, Carolina Adriazola and José Luis Sepúlveda, Carolina Moscoso, Francisco Bermejo and Pachi Bustos.
Already announced by the festival is its Rhyme and Rhythm programme.
The Sheffield Doc/Fest Arts Programme includes a range of activities, from exhibitions and talks to events and new commissions. Highlights include festival commissions In Posse by Charlotte Jarvis (in partnership with Site Gallery) and Alex Tyson’s moving image installation The Registry. The DocFest Arts Programme has also commissioned participants for Right on Time Radio, a temporary web radio station, including performances, discussions, contemporary literature, and sound experimentations. Featured broadcasters are: AWU Radio, Himali Singh Soin, Karim Kattan & Yasmine Benabdallah, Les Bonnes Ondes, Listening to the more-than-human (a collaboration with DocFest Exchange), Micro.radio and Yasmina Reggad.
The Arts Programme will also include Daïchi Saïto’s earthearthearth and Georges Lacombe’s 1928 silent city portrait La Zone, projected on 35mm. Sam Smith’s desktop projection work E.1027 will be presented as a live performance.
DocFest Exchange: Beyond Our Own Eyes brings together voices from science, art, activism and beyond to create a generative space of sharing. The film programme includes Gunda by Victor Kossakovsky, From the Wild Sea by Robin Petré, The Ants and the Grasshopper by Raj Patel and Zak Piper and Who We Were by Marc Bauder. DocFest Exchange: Beyond Our Own Eyes also features a wide-ranging programme of online discussions, including Elizabeth Povinelli of Karrabing Film Collective, author and activist Raj Patel, microbial ecologist Suzanne Pierre and community leader Anita Chitaya.
This year’s RETROSPECTIVE is a celebration of Black British screen culture curated by a list of guest curators (previously announced). Karen Alexander is an additional curator. Films of all lengths will all be presented as part of the retrospective and include titles such as Burning An Illusion by Menelik Shebazz, It Ain’t Half Racist, Mum by Stuart Hall, Looking for Langston by Isaac Julien, Second Coming by Debbie Tucker Green, The Black Safari by Colin Luke and Franco Rosso’s The Mangrove Nine.
As earlier announced, 55 projects have been selected for presentation to industry partners at the 16th edition of Sheffield DocFest’s flagship pitching forum, the MeetMarket (9-11 June) . Furthermore, 22 projects are selected for Arts Talent Market, running in parallel.
Sheffield Doc/Fest runs 4-13 June 2021, in cinemas in Sheffield and online.
